Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) was a prolific, versatile and engaging writer. He outlived many of the poets and essayists of his generation whose reputations overshadowed his, but Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats all owed a debt to his advocacy, as did Tennyson and Browning. A poet of charm and technical skill, and an able translator and playwright, Leigh Hunt excelled as an essayist, literary critic and letter writer. His concern was always, in the words of his son, to open more widely the door of the library , to share his literary enthusiasms and extend his readers’ tastes. This anthology draws on the full range of Hunt’s poetry and prose, revealing a writer committed to the humane and civilising powers of literature and friendship.